𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 | 𝐋𝐍𝟒

𝐗𝐈

14th February 2024

Milaine was in the middle of her morning training session, her body moving in sync with the rhythm of her footwork as she hit the ball against the practice wall in her private clay court. The steady beat of the ball meeting concrete filled the air, a soothing and familiar sound that allowed her mind to focus solely on her form and her breathing.

She was so absorbed in the exercise that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until someone cleared their throat gently. Startled, she turned around, her breath catching when she saw Andrey Rublev standing at the edge of the court, holding a huge bouquet of red and white flowers. His face held that familiar mix of shyness and sincerity, a hint of a nervous smile tugging at his lips.

«Happy Valentine's, Milaine» he said, his voice soft and almost tentative, like he was worried she'd laugh or brush it off.

She blinked, surprised, her gaze shifting between him and the flowers he was holding. She haven't saw him since Australia , and she thought he was back home in Moscow , but here he is, in her house in Monaco .. Andrey rarely visited her announced, or interrupted her practice sessions, knowing how focused and intense she got on court. The fact that he was here, with flowers no less, threw her completely off balance.

«Andrey... what are you doing here?» she asked, a hint of a smile breaking through despite her surprise .. He had this awkward look on his face , the same look he had when they first met , she remembers it too well ..

~They were both training in the same stadium , in the two tennis courts next to eachother, and to be honest she didn't notice him at all , she was too caught up in her own world ... returning the balls that the machine was throwing at her and whenever she misses a ball , she slams the racket against the hard floor of the court harshly until it breaks .. then she grabs a brand new racket from her bag and repeats the cycle all over again ..

He was there, watching the whole scene with his ocean blue eyes .. mesmerized.. he was truly mesmerized, he did not know what part of breaking expensive rackets he found mesmerizing.. But he just couldn't take his eyes off of her .. He recognized her , of course he did , who wouldn't...

Milaine Van Boven , the recent Us open champion , And the daughter of the late former F1 driver Johan Van Boven.. She was what everyone had been talking about on the media for months now since her father died .. And after her father's funeral she completely just disappeared , and now five months later , here she was training in the stadium as him and breaking rackets..

He couldn't help it but approach her figure on the other side of the court , she had just broken the fourth racket and was  standing next to her bag fetching a new racket .. But before she returned to what she was doing , she grabbed from her bag a small bottle of what looked like pills, poured a generous amount of the pills on her shaky palm and swallowed them with water ...

He furrowed his eyebrows but decided not to make a comment on the pills , he spoke «Breaking rackets is not gonna get you anywhere »

She could hear the russian accent through his english , she turns around to finally face him .. She did not know what was he doing there but she assumed he was also practicing and she didn't notice it because she was too wrapped up in her own world .. Of course she recognized him , not having friends in the tennis world didn't necessarily mean that she doesn't know them , in fact she does know almost everyone, she loves watching matches and analyzing everyone's performance and skills ...

«Says the guy who hits his knees with rackets .. at least i hit the floor i dont hurt myself » she says with an unbothered look on her face as she got back to what she was doing .. grabbing the last racket she owned and walked back to her side of the court , she could hear his footsteps behind her..